Pure Drink May Be Pure Hype
Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 2:00 AM | Leave Comment
According Wikipedia, worldwide sales of bottled water is around $60 billion. U.S. sales reached around 34 billion liters in 2008, a slight drop from 2007 levels. According to The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), more than half of all Americans drink bottled water; about a third of the public consumes it regularly. Sales have tripled in the past 10 years, to about $4 billion a year.
The article further states that this kind of sales has been fueled by ads picturing towering mountains, pristine glaciers, and crystal-clear springs nestled in untouched forests yielding absolutely pure water.
Is bottled water just a hype or is it really pure water like the ads would have you believe?
The executive summary in the NRDC article states:
Is the marketing image of total purity accurate?” Also, are rules for bottled water stricter than those for tap water? Not exactly. No one should assume that just because he or she purchases water in a bottle that it is necessarily any better regulated, purer, or safer than most tap water.
If you do search in any search engine for “bottled water” key phrase, you would find, except for the manufacturers’ website, that a majority of the people are asking the same questions.
When we pay close to $10 for a case of bottled water, are we wasting money? Can we get the same quality in tap water? According to NRDC, yes we can and we do.
Another website Galt Technology mentions that:
This is the billion dollar question that many have asked in recent years. Does bottled water really taste better than tap water and is it better for you? Taste is one thing and for the most part people think that bottled water does taste better than tap water.
According to Wikipedia…
Often, enforcement and monitoring of water quality is uneven and irregular for both tap water and bottled water. While tap water contamination incidents must be reported promptly to the public, the same is not true for bottled water, and while contamination of bottled water does occur, many instances have never received public notice.
I wonder if bottled water taste is something of a psychological nature:
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People think bottled water tastes better because they pay for it.
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They think of a commercial or advertisement when they buy it.
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Because they have to keep up with the Jones’, they must buy it; they must like it.
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Read this article Aquafina labels to spell out source – tap water.
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Read another article Coca – Cola Admits That Dasani is Nothing But Tap Water by Trevor Datson.
The problem could be…
In the United States, bottled water and tap water are regulated by different federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water whereas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the quality of tap water.
Why can’t just one agency regulate both types of water? The public should get a side by side comparison of both types of water so we the consumers can get a better understanding of the water we drink.
Save money by drinking tap water…
Smell and taste your tap water. If there is no smell and the water tastes just fine, then you could drink it. You can save money by not buying bottled water. If in doubt, ask your town or city to send you the result of the test they do every year.
Over the last three decades, I have lived in Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Lowell MA, Nashua NH, Tyngsboro MA and Vienna VA. I have always used tap water for drinking.
In a Nutshell
My wife, though, bought one of those jug-look-alike container that has a filter in it about four months ago. She fills it with tap water and drinks from it. It cost us $19.99 for the container and one filter in Wal-Mart.
I, however, still drink directly from tap water.
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